Tue 30 May 2006 Scalpay. This year's Scottish Wildlife
Trust boat trip was to the Isle of Scalpay, which is very close to Skye.
The crossing only takes a couple of minutes. But as the island is
privately owned there is no ferry service, and for many of us, including me, it
was a first visit. I headed for Loch an Leoid to hunt for the Interrupted
Clubmoss, which grows in several places on Scalpay though it has never been found on
Skye.

When we got to the right spot it was easy to find and very
plentiful. It was growing vigorously in boggy heathland similar to that
which covers much of Skye, so it's a mystery why the plant doesn't
occur there. All 6 British clubmoss species have now featured on this
site; the other 5 were from Skye itself.

I need some help with this one. A mysterious green blob
about 2.5-3 cm wide, attached to a piece of alga, submerged in a loch. The
first picture is in situ, the second shows it held up by the attached alga, and
the third shows it placed half in the water. It was replaced in the loch
afterwards. I've no idea what it is.

It was a good day for ferns. On the left is an Oak Fern,
growing on a wet mossy woodland bank. On the right are young fronds of
Adderstongue, which I found growing under Bracken while waiting for the boat
back. We also found Mountain Male Fern at a fairly low altitude, and some
suspected Northern Buckler Fern (to be checked later in the year).

We saw a Goosander flying overhead, which it turned out had been
put up by other members of the party, who also saw Red-throated Divers. As
it would be rather late in the season for migration, here's a strong likelihood
that both species are there to breed. There was also much evidence of
otter activity.

Waiting for the boat back to Skye.

Fri 2 June 2006 Drumfearn.

We've had both the spring and summer generations of the Oak
Currant Gall on leaves before, but here is the spring generation on a catkin
(gall is the round thing in middle of pic).

We recently had the
Tunbridge Filmy Fern so here is Wilson's Filmy
Fern for comparison, together with a couple of attractive mosses. Wilson's
is not bluish like the Tunbridge one, and has untoothed capsules. The
veins reach to the end of the leaflets whereas in the Tunbridge they stop short
of the ends. Tunbridge always gives the impression of hanging down in
sheets whereas Wilson's gives the impression of tiers sloping forward like
half-open blinds.

The woods along the coast north from Drumfearn have copious
amounts of Wilson's Filmy Fern on the rocks and tree bases; I've never seen it
so abundant anywhere. Broad Buckler Fern, Mountain Fern and Bracken
are also plentiful. Among flowering plants, Wood Sorrel is abundant and
Dog Violet, Sweet Vernal Grass and Golden Saxifrage are all common, with Hairy
Woodrush and Celandine fairly frequent. There are few Primroses and very
few Wood Anemones, and I didn't see any Herb Robert. Pignut and Great
Woodrush are also scarce. Much of the woodland floor is green Sphagnum.
A party of Long-tailed Tits was zitting about, like they do in winter.

Up behind the woods is the heather moorland, including this bare
mossy patch which is clearly a popular seafood restaurant with the gulls.
The remains were those of crabs, mussels and common whelks. Saw a fox up
here. They never run away when they first see you. They stare at you
for a few seconds. Then they scarper.

Back down on the shore there are some stands of the Slender
Spike-rush, a leafless plant with upright green stems terminated by a flowering
spike
as shown. The lowest glume is short and empty and encircles the spike
base, and the second glume
is fertile, this can be seen in the picture and confirms the ID.

Seaward of the Spike-rush zone is very short turf, grazed, exposed and
salt-swept, with all its plants dwarfed. From left to right these are compact
versions of Buckshorn Plantain, Glaucous Sedge and Sea Arrowgrass.